Anglo American, the world's third-largest mining group, has named Cynthia Carroll as its new chief executive.

Currently president and chief executive of Alcan Primary Metal, she will join the Anglo American board in January and take over as CEO when Tony Trahar steps down in March.

The appointment of Ms Carroll, 49, to one of the most powerful jobs in the mining industry came as a surprise to industry observers.

Ms Carroll is the first outsider to be appointed chief executive of the mining giant and will become only the third female CEO of a FTSE 100 company, joining Dame Marjorie Scardino of publishing group Pearson and Dorothy Thompson, CEO of Drax Group.

In her role as head of Alcan's Primary Metal Group, Ms Carroll currently oversees a business with 18,000 employees and $12bn (£6.42m) in sales, accounting for some 75% of Alcan's earnings.

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Anglo American chairman, said today: "Cynthia Carroll has a very strong track record of improving operational performance, transforming culture, including improving safety performance, and of integrating and realising synergies from newly acquired assets.

"The Board has been impressed by her clear leadership and communication skills, her highly relevant hands-on operational experience and of her record of working with governments and other key stakeholders."

Ms Carroll, an American, has been with Alcan for the past 18 years, during which time she lived in the US, Ireland and Canada. Prior to joining the aluminium giant in 1988, she was Senior Petroleum Geologist for Amoco in North America, working in Colorado, Alaska, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana.

She will be paid a basic salary of £900,000 but her total pay and performance related package could be worth almost £4m, which would make her one of the highest-paid executives in the FTSE 100. She is eligible for a discretionary performance related bonus up to a maximum 150% of base salary and will also be part of the group's long-term incentive plan, under which maximum awards of 175% of base salary can be paid.

Anglo American will compensate Ms Carroll for incentives forfeited at Alcan, although it gave no details of the payment.